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5 Signs It’s Time to Start Using Artificial Intelligence

Posted
23 Dec 2018

Recent data reports that more than 70 percent of consumers harbour some sort of fear of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the same global study found that 24 percent of respondents selected “Rise of robots and enslavement of humanity” as being a primary cause of concern. We suppose conspiracy theories will surround this topic for decades to come, or at least until the takeover forbids independent thought. But in the here and now, businesses may need to come to terms with the fact that in order to gain a competitive advantage in 2019 the adoption of AI should be considered relevant. But don’t just take our word for it, let’s take a look at what’s happening today in your very own marketplace.

5 Key Indicators That The Time Has Come For Your Business To Adopt AI To Become More Competitive

1. Enterprises Are Going All In

When enterprise businesses show their full commitment to a specific technological advancement, you know there’s serious merit behind it. Look no further than the recent announcement from retail giant Walmart and Microsoft.

In an effort to gain a competitive edge in the online market over Amazon, Walmart is committing to leverage Microsoft’s AI systems for their e-commerce platform. To help accomplish this, Walmart is migrating all of its internal business applications to Azure where the flexible cloud platform offers a wide portfolio of AI productivity tools. Walmart’s move conveys a level of confidence in AI that has many businesses, big and small, taking notice.

Microsoft in general isn’t slowing down their AI initiatives. The tech company is on a high profile AI acquisition binge, announcing its fourth procurement of the year with XOXCO, a company that builds bots and conversational tools.

2. Your Peers Are Getting In On the Action

It’s all fine and dandy that enterprises are going all in on AI and that you’ve read the reports that a majority of business leaders are calling it a “business advantage”, but does that really have anything to do with your business? Absolutely, even if you don’t currently think so, data shows that over 60 percent of all businesses indicate that machine learning and AI is to be their most significant data investment for the year ahead.

3. You’ve Got All This Data, Yet Don't Know What To Do With It

We see this all of the time. Many businesses mine the data, run analytics on it, and still fail to produce anything meaningful.

When you leverage the right AI tools, you gain unique insight, powerful reporting, and valuable dashboards. Additional benefits can also include predictive analysis, identifying trends, dealing with anomalies, and helping executives see real-time statistics to make the most informed decisions possible.

4. Security Issues

Do you have the “latest” antivirus and firewall? How well are they protecting you? Antiquated antivirus and firewall technology no longer offer adequate protection because they can’t keep up to the sheer number of threats released daily. Think we’re exaggerating? We wish. Unfortunately, over the last three years up to one million new malware threats have been released every day and the number isn’t expected to subside any time soon as cyber criminals evolve along with security.

Only one development can keep up with the evolution of advanced threats - the integration of machine learning and AI in cyber-security. Together they can identify malware before it can be executed and provide an endpoint security solution that detects zero-day threats and secure endpoint patient zero.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. As technology continues to advance exponentially, your organization will have to leverage platforms built on AI and machine learning to keep up and protect its interests.

5. You’re Wasting People Power On Mundane Tasks

There’s nothing that kills the spirit of innovation like mundane tasks. As the saying goes, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results“ and the same can be said for your business when human resources are wasted in operations that could seamlessly be automated.

There are numerous corporate tasks from administration and finance to manufacturing that would be better served (sans human error) by AI. But tell your HR department not to worry because AI replaces tasks not jobs, as valuable human resources are freed up to focus on product/service innovation along with customer/client service. And that, will deliver a competitive advantage that will benefit the entire company.

If you would like to find out how you can leverage AI for your own business, contact SIRKit today. As a Managed Services Provider we can work with you to discover where AI can be applied to enhance efficiencies, improve security, and increase your bottom line.